Ask HN: What's the best interview process you've had?
I blew up at a recruiter who was trying to get me to take a BS IKM test. I am awful at taking tests, and I've worked long enough you'd think they believe I knew how to code.
1 comments
Recruiters are just doing their job. If you don't want to take tests, that's your prerogative. Demand for talented devs is so hot you can get away with it.
As for the best interviews: probably the interviews that I thought were just a conversation over a beer or coffee that I didn't realize was an interview until half-way through... or until the person (the person with hiring authority) point-blank offered me a spot on their team.
This gets to another point about which I've been meaning to blog: the articles about "the best languages for getting hired in 2020" overlook or ignore the importance of the human network. How many recruiters you know and how frequently you stay in contact to keep up with local market demand even when you're not looking for a job is invaluable. Not every company puts out their openings to all recruiters: it's always best to cast a wide net and intelligently analyze the companies/positions/offers. Recruiters deal in this market every day all day... tap their knowledge for all it's worth and offer to present lunch & learn talks at their offices to make them better informed about technology (which makes them think of YOU first when premium openings cross their desks).
As for the best interviews: probably the interviews that I thought were just a conversation over a beer or coffee that I didn't realize was an interview until half-way through... or until the person (the person with hiring authority) point-blank offered me a spot on their team.
This gets to another point about which I've been meaning to blog: the articles about "the best languages for getting hired in 2020" overlook or ignore the importance of the human network. How many recruiters you know and how frequently you stay in contact to keep up with local market demand even when you're not looking for a job is invaluable. Not every company puts out their openings to all recruiters: it's always best to cast a wide net and intelligently analyze the companies/positions/offers. Recruiters deal in this market every day all day... tap their knowledge for all it's worth and offer to present lunch & learn talks at their offices to make them better informed about technology (which makes them think of YOU first when premium openings cross their desks).